LifeSource The Newsletter of WBLUMCWhite Bear Lake United Methodist Church | 1851 Birch Street | White Bear Lake, MN 55110 | www.wblumc.org

~THANK YOU~

From Bob Knutson: “Thank you so much for all your thoughts, prayers, cards, and calls after my surgery and during my recovery. I feel so much love from all of you.”

Incarnation

Frederick Buechner writes: “One of the blunders

religious people are particularly fond of making is

the attempt to be more spiritual than God.”

We are entering a spiritual season, but for

all the gifts of this season, the most precious is

that we encounter the sacred in ordinary ways.

In the Sundays leading up to Christmas we will

focus on the “incarnation.” It is a theological word

which essentially means the God of heaven and

earth is known fully in down to earth ways.

The Gospel of Matthew proclaims:

In Jesus “God is with us.” We celebrate that God

comes among us in a little baby named Jesus,

born like us and like us flesh and blood.

Born to a lowly teenage girl and a woodworker’s

son, in the dark of night, in a cattle’s stall, and

visited by filthy, smelly shepherds.

It is no accident that our time honored Christmas

traditions help us encounter the sacred in simple,

sensual ways. We find warmth and hope in the light

of one flickering candle. We savor festive holiday

foods. We embrace friends, loved ones, and even

strangers. Our ears and hearts open to take in

beautiful music.

My hope and prayer for you this Christmas: through sight, scent, taste, touch and sound may you meet God in all that you do, in the people

you meet, wherever you may go.

Blessings, Bryce

Welcome, Sawyer

Jacob Steiner! Congratulations to Brooke, Jeremy, Annabelle & Anderson as they welcome Sawyer to their family. He was born November 5th, he weighed 8 pounds, 13 ounces, and his length measured in at 21

inches.

Welcome to our church family,

Sawyer!

December, 2015

Monday, December 7th at 8:00pm

CHRISTMAS STORIES

TO WARM THE HEART with Storyteller Marian Eisenmann

In this inspirational program, Marian shares a variety of stories

focusing on the true spirit of Christmas. Marian Eisenmann is

a retired Lutheran pastor, chaplain and former nurse. She uses

her parish ministry, nursing experience, and hospital chaplaincy

to help shape her inspirational programs. She also does puppet

shows with husband Bill Eisenmann.

* Harvest Market Auction at 6:30pm, Fellowship Hall

* UMW Business Meeting at 7:30pm, Fellowship Hall

* Featured Program at 8:00pm, Sanctuary

All adults are welcome and invited! Refreshments will be served

by the UMW Executive Board after the program in the

Fellowship Hall - please add your name to the sign-up sheet in

the Narthex. UMW will also be collecting new socks and

underwear for God's Closet. To learn more, contact Cheryl

Larsen at colarsen@comcast.net.

Fall/Winter Office Hours

Monday: 9:00 AM—12:00 PM Tuesday—Thursday: 9:00 AM—3:00 PM Friday: 9:00 AM—12:00 PM Saturday: Closed Sunday: 9:00 AM—12:00 PM

Worship

† 9:30 AM Blended Worship Services

† 10:30 AM Fellowship with gourmet coffee & tea

† 10:30 AM Individual prayer, Prayer Room

† 11:15 AM Interactive, Band-led & Casual Worship Service (45 min.) †12:00 PM Individual Prayer, Prayer Room

Staff

Bryce Johnson, Senior Pastor—ext. 102 Bryce.Johnson@wblumc.org Brooke Heerwald Steiner, Associate Pastor—ext.103 Brooke.HeerwaldSteiner@wblumc.org John McBride, Associate Pastor Mcbride.johnr@gmail.com Jan Morey, Interim Pastoral Care janmorey@usfamily.net Christina Koppes, Director of Youth Ministries—ext. 107 Stina.Koppes@wblumc.org Joan Hartman, Director of Children & Family—ext. 105 Joan.Hartman@wblumc.org John Koziol, Director of Music Ministries-—ext. 106 John.Koziol@wblumc.org Peteria Cochran Routt, Dir. of Trad. Music-—ext. 122 Peteria.cochranroutt@wblumc.org Sophie Amelkin, Chancel/Children’s Choir Dir.—ext. 121 Sophie.Amelkin@wblumc.org Angela Bruentrup, Director of Operations—ext. 104 Angela.Bruentrup@wblumc.org Libby Turner, Administrative Assistant-—ext. 101 office@wblumc.org Tim Wallin, Grounds Keeper Ron Houde, Building Maintenance Tom Leiser, Treasurer Harry Jones, Financial Secretary

2015 WBLUMC Ministry Leaders

Doug Mulder, Board Chair

Jeff Lantto, Trustees

Scott Vipond, Finance

Glenn Oliphant, Bread Team

Ginger Davis, Staff Parish

Joy Ballou, Worship

Chad Koppes, Adult Faith

Carol Effertz & Jeremy Steiner, Hospitality

Barb Hinz & Roberta Schmidt, BeFrienders

Kelly Knutson & Diane Lund, Congregational Care

Stephanie Boening Ondik, United Methodist Women

Karen Flynn, Library

Denise & Larry Kerr, Community Garden

Julie Jacot & Dave Hegdahl, Prayer Team

Welcome—

LOVE THY NEIGHBOR!

Please join the Bread Oven Team as we bake 100 loaves of bread to give to the apartment residents that live right near the church.

Date: December 12th, 2015

Bakers Needed: 4

Time of Baking: 8:00am-12:00 noon

Distributors Needed: 12 or more!

Distribution Time: 2:30pm-4:00pm

Location: Church Kitchen, Patio & Fellowship Hall

Feel the Love!

Christmas pageants are not uncommon in churches. Some churches make it an annual tradition to celebrate Advent with a Christmas pageant that showcases the talents of church members. Others make a point to attend a local theatre production of a seasonal-related productions such as Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol.” Still others dedicate an entire service to sing hymns and Christmas carols that are appropriate for the season. White Bear Lake United Methodist Church has done all of the above at one time or another. Some, such as Bryce Johnson’s dramas and the Sunday dedicated to seasonal music, have become traditions at our church. People eagerly look forward to these special events. In other years, our church has done services and productions that have not become annual events, but they remain special in their own way. Remember the Hanging of the Greens services? Back in the early 2000’s there was a service dedicated to the preparations to decorate the narthex and sanctuary for the coming advent season. Pine boughs were hung around the chancel area of the sanctuary, a very large Christmas tree more than dominated the narthex, and additional pine boughs were affixed outside to stair railings and parking lot light poles. Other years had the traditional Christmas pageant put on by the youth with help from adults. A few years running there was a nativity-related program where children acted out the Christmas story as narrators read the verses. Wise men, shepherds, angels, Mary and Joseph, and an innkeeper all made their way onto the stage as adults off stage told the story. Another year I recall playing a shepherd myself along with Doug Mulder and my son Adam as we sought to understand the reason for all the seasonal hype. Things don’t always go as planned and I remember Doug and I ad-libbing lines as our “sheep” missed their cue to enter the sanctuary. Perhaps the largest Christmas pageant occurred in 2005 when WBLUMC produced Barbara Robinson’s “The Best Christmas Pageant Ever.” This is the story of the Herdman family—whose bratty, delinquent children only come to church because it is said there are snacks available, but they ultimately participate in the church pageant and are transformed by it. Adults and children alike spent weeks rehearsing, assembling sets, sewing costumes, and selling tickets (yes, this was a full-fledged theatrical production) to make this event possible. The play ran over several nights to the delight of adoring audiences. As with the earlier plays, Julie Jacot directed this pageant and really made it all possible. So once again the Christmas season is upon us and events at the church will once again ring in Christ’s birth. It has been said that Advent transforms each of us into innkeepers who must decide if there is room for the Christ child in our lives. Certainly the music and the pageants of the season help us understand the meaning of the holy birth, yet it remains our task to open our hearts to Christ. ~ Jim Lindner, WBLUMC Church Historian

Art + Faith … A Successful

Four-Session Series!

Kids ages 4-7 took part in this creative

series highlighting biblical connections to

art and art-making. The children spent

each week exploring skills and concepts,

and had a bunch of fun in the process.

Thanks to all who participated!

Senior High Bread Retreat

During November, students made bread for the bake sale, and enjoyed homemade calzones.

A big thanks to Pastor Bryce and Ross Safford for their leadership!

November Community Bread Class Culinary students with Catholic Charities, who visited

to learn the basics of baking in the bread oven with

Ross Safford and Pastor Bryce.

Pageants

Nourishing the Hungers of Life

White Bear Lake United Methodist Church 651-429-9026 | www.wblumc.org

The WBLUMC Trustees would like to extend a HUGE Thank You to all the people that came out on a cool

and rainy Halloween morning to prepare the church grounds for winter. It was a big job, but made fun and light by

the fellowship and many hands from our congregation. We hope to see you all again & some new faces as well in

spring! This year’s clean-up crew: Jim and Linda Anderson, Kathy and Phil Siegle, Jeff and Ryan Lipovetz, Sarah

Schurr, Jeff Lantto, Jim Jansen and Joy Ballou, Al Lewison, Jim Lindner, Curt Jenkins, Pete Pedersen, Terry

Sayles, Bill Johnson, Joe and Angela Bruentrup, Glenn Oliphant & Diane Teigen’s grandson, Nicolas!

FUN AT THE TRUSTEE FALL CLEAN-UP!

WELCOMING WINTER VISITORS!

OUR LITTLE FREE LIBRARY

Remember to utilize this neighborhood resource,

located on Birch Street, right outside WBLUMC.

Stop by, browse and share a book—

find something to curl up with on snowy days!